THE WORDS OF SUBEDAI
An ongoing monologue about the trials and tribulations of life in general, being an avid reader, figure painter, terrain modeller, part time wargamer -with a rather scary fixation for the Mongols- part time rule writer, aspiring writer and photographer, very amateur artist and being a follower of both West Ham United and Sittingbourne FC...ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!!

Monday, 11 July 2011

First ever solo game...Part One

This post actually contains several firsts. One is that it is my first ever solo game, second it is my first ever BATREP/AAR (whatever you want to call it), and the third is my first playtest of my very own Far Eastern Medieval Rules, 'The Fury of the Tartars'. Yes, I know I have used the European spelling for Tartars as opposed to Tatars -who really were a nomadic tribe of the time- but it's easier. The rules cover my favourite historical period, that of the Mongol conquests, starting from before the tribes were united under Chinggis Khan and running up the Yuan Dynasty of China, including all campaigns within that time period. So far, the lists are nearly done for the Mongols up until 1237 and the Khwarizmians, so I thought I'd give them a go.

A bit of background on the rules. Alternate move depending upon Initiative. Each army has a Ferocity Factor plus a D6 roll that is instrumental in which army has the Initiative and choice of first or second move for that Move. To move or change formation each unit must pass a Competency Roll -the better the training the easier it is to pass i.e. Superior Trained troops need 2-6 on a D6 to pass whereas Levied troops need a 5 or 6 or they will continue with the current order or just halt. The same is true if troops leave the Control Area of their commander whose status is determined at the start of the game.

Each troop type, Skirmisher, Support or Battle has its own basic move distance augmented by the roll of a D6.

There are three basic factors, Attack, Defend and Firing and these are used in whichever situation is relevant. To cause damage to a unit from Firing the Firing and Defend factors are compared, other factors are then added or minus-ed and each unit rolls a D6. The resulting difference is cross-referenced on a chart to determine the result.

Photo 1
The Khwarizmian Set-up.
Blissfully unaware that the enemy has reached this far into the homeland, Sultan Abd Ad-Dill is responding to Muhammed Shah’s call to arms and has his own bodyguard of Kangli BC, 3 units of SkC and a single unit of untested levy infantry from the outlying villagers of his demesne. He is marching to Masalim to pick up the last contingent of his army before going to Samarkand. Unfortunately, Abu ad-Dill is an Indifferent Commander which allows him to have a 150mm Control Radius. In the top right hand corner can be seen a unit of Mongols in ambush position.

Photo 2
The Mongol Set-up.

One of Snoopy Bahadur's outlying scouts has reported spotting a column of Khwarizmian troops. The scout got close enough to determine that the column consisted of at least 10 hundreds of cavalry and 3 hundreds of infantry. They will soon be passing through the Pass of Abu-Sinbar obviously on their way as reinforcements for Samarkand and will pass closely by the village of Masalim, currently invested by Mongol troops. Leaving a single mingghan to ensure that the villagers do not sortie out, he turns with the rest of his available tumen -2 mingghan of Skirmish Cavalry (SkC) and a single mingghan of Battle cavalry (BC) to set up an ambush for the oblivious Khwarizmians. Snoopy Bahadur has rolled to be a Competent Commander giving him a Control Radius of 300mm.

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Subedai (aka Mick Sayce)

Apparently I'm a grumpy old man who spends too much time on the computer, reading, watching football -especially West Ham United- and painting 'toy' soldiers.(Pearls of Wisdom from the other half).
P.S. Photo of moi was taken by the OH at El Jem, an incredibly atmospheric, ruined Roman amphitheatre in Tunisia.